Enjoy some tunes in the morning while getting some fresh produce, coffee, flowers, soaps, and other locally created goods!

The group moves from porch to porch and each musician plays for 15-20 minutes. Looking forward to playing some tunes and hearing other musicians sharing their music!

2:00 Moses Amaro, Singer/Songwriter, 3420 Tilden Street 2:30 O'McPub Band, Irish Folk, 3400 Upshur Street 3:00 Abe Mamet, Singer/Songwriter, 3404 Upshur Street 3:30 Hope & Alex, Singer/Songwriters, 3408 Upshur Street 4:00 Lisa Walker, Singer/Songwriter, 3600 Varnum Street 4:30 Stefan Leggin, Acoustic Rock, 3604 Varnum Street 5:00 Joe Dolan Band, Acoustic Rock w. Flute, 3605 Varnum Street

Brandon the Traveling Bard and Ryan from the O'McPub Band are joining forces to bring an Irish session to Hyattsville!

What is an Irish Session?

Irish sessions are fun gatherings of musicians sharing tunes and conversations in a relaxed setting. They can be an important part of an area’s Irish music community, passing along tunes and the tradition. While sessions can and do exist in private homes, today many sessions take place in pubs and other public spaces.

It’s important to note that Irish sessions are not open jam sessions that musicians might encounter in other genres and styles. An Irish session’s focus is on the instrumental tunes (and sometimes songs) found within the Irish tradition – reels, jigs, hornpipes, polkas, slip jigs, and the like. To that end, improvising or “jamming” over the tunes played at an Irish session is not okay! Everyone is more than welcome to watch and listen to a session, but musicians from outside the Irish tradition should note that experience playing Irish music is an unwritten perquisite of joining the session.

Session Leaders Some sessions have experienced musicians in charge of starting sets of tunes or just keeping the music flowing. Sometimes sessions are more open and don’t have formal leaders. Either way, a general guideline is to musically follow whoever starts a set of tunes. If you start a set of tunes (see below), you’re in the drivers’ seat, so have a follow up tune in mind and stay strong during the transition!

Tune Sets Multiple tunes are typically arranged in sets of like tune types. For example, instead of playing one jig, the leader of a set of tunes will likely pick three jigs to play together (usually repeating each tune up to three times before going into the next tune). Sometimes leaders will tell the other musicians which tunes will be played and sometimes not! Remember, listening is important.

Conversations Between sets of tunes, musicians will likely have a chat. These chats are just as important as the tunes! It’s okay to have some space between sets of tunes, so if you’re new to the session, take your cues from the session leaders before starting up music that might interrupt a good chat.

Session Etiquette Each session might have unwritten house “rules” or guidelines on how the session operates. Some general rules of thumb to keep in mind:

1. Sit out on tunes that you don’t know (don’t drone or noodle along)
2. Chordal accompaniment and bodhran players should take turns
3. Don’t be afraid to ask for the name of a tune that you’d like to learn!

4. Ask if you can record the session's tunes on your phone or device to learn tunes at home.

5. Explanation adapted from The Milwaukee Irish Fest School of Music https://irishfestschoolofmusic.com/Blog/What-Is-An-Irish-Session.htm

Listen to some fun tunes while wandering around the Farmer's Market!

The best Irish Pub in Arlington meets probably the best guitar/bodhran duo in the DMV! Come join us in celebrating we only have 3/4 of the year left until St. Patrick's Day!